I was surprised to see one of my images being used, without permission, on ScubaBoard.com's website. I contacted them and they immediately removed the image, but didn't acknowledge my email, apologize, or offer payment.

I was surprised to see one of my images being used, without permission, on ScubaBoard.com's website. I contacted them and they immediately removed the image, but didn't acknowledge my email, apologize, or offer payment.

Was it being used by ScubaBoard, as part of their site? Or had a user posted/uploaded it to a forum?

I was surprised to see one of my images being used, without permission, on ScubaBoard.com's website. I contacted them and they immediately removed the image, but didn't acknowledge my email, apologize, or offer payment.

It might have been better to ask for payment instead?

Removing it is nice, but the image has been used and benefit gained for the site........so a retrospective license fee should be quoted, plus another fee for ongoing use, if they wish to continue to use.

Interests:filming/editing/exotic travel. l write reviews of editing software, books, tutorials and Mac based NLE related products for the www.kenstone.net and www.lafcpug.org sites as well as articles for Asian Diver Magazine and wetpixel. I am one of the founding members of the San Diego UnderSea Film Festival

Posted 26 May 2011 - 02:46 PM

Also surprised to hear this. I know they have revamped their site and maybe the photo somehow got on by accident. They've not been known to do this type of thing so the benefit of the doubt may be a good thing to apply. However, they were wrong in not sending you an apology email, at the very least. Or maybe a new rebreather.
Steve

www.kenstone.net
www.lafcpug.org

Steve Douglas
steve-sharksdelight@cox.net

I have worked as an unpaid reviewer for the editing websites since 2002. Most all hardware and software is sent to me free of charge, however, in no way am I obligated to provide either positive or negative evaluations. Any suggestions I make regarding products are a result of my own, completely, personal opinions and experiences with said products.

Simon, Where would we find a good example to help with this by the way?

A one line answer? Hmmmm.... very much depends on the site, the location of the image, the size of reproduction and to a greater or lesser degree the attitude of the site owner as to if there is a charge at all.....there is no one answer if that's what you are looking for I'm afraid.

And there is a section dealing with online use. Remember these fees are for guidance only, but they can be a good starting point. With infringement, fees are normally non-negotiable - the time to negotiate with the owner is before use, rather than after and to a certain extend post-infringement negotiations rewards infringing - but on a personal note this aspect depending on the attitude and commercial nature of the infringer. Retrospective licenses to cover infringement are also sold in blocks of 12 months with that as the minimum for any single infringement. Fees for ongoing use is negotiable. Taking an image down does not provide adequate redress either - the infringer has benefitted in the past from the unpaid image use.

Finally, unless your images are registered with the US Copyright Office, significant damages are not enforceable unless there are a few exceptional circumstances. In other words, you may need to demonstrate what charges you are seeking are reasonable and are what you would have charged if permission was sought beforehand. This means infringers only pay what they would have paid had they asked so there is little in the way of financial penalties to deter infringement. The result of this is it really helps to have a pile of high value invoices for similar use as it helps demonstrate your fees are reasonable. In other words, it is not in the photographers' interest to license images royalty free or on the cheap.

I captured an image before scubaboard took it down. The picture on the right, of the diver with the pyramid, is mine. It was being used as part of their advertising. I was surprised that such a popular website would steal images - I guess I am naive.

I was surprised to see one of my images being used, without permission, on ScubaBoard.com's website. I contacted them and they immediately removed the image, but didn't acknowledge my email, apologize, or offer payment.

Post a thread on their site and see if you get a response. I doubt this is the first time they have done this. And I think this was for a house ad so they would be responsible. Heck, ultimately they are responsible for everything on their site.

I haven't been back there since that fiasco with the contest w/ "NetDoc" defending Dive Chronicles so stupidly....

Sad to see they're borrowing your work Jim, especially if they borrowed it off a trip report site not even hosted there, so they can't claim they got it off their own galleries and you didn't set permissions right or something (e.g. they had a hidden 'we can use it' in their TOS).

(Of course the use of the word "borrow" is a bit of a joke. They "gave it back" but never paid for usage, not even a courtesy apology?)

The issue was finally settled. A donation was made in the name of Scuba Board to my favorite charity, the USO ( USO.org/donate ) and the image was taken down. Hopefully this was a learning experience for many people. Thanks for your support.

Hi jlyle,Good to hear theyresponded....I know everybody has automatically the right to their own pictures but I don't know what happens when you post the pics for the public to see, without either watermark or copyright stamp ( on your link I couldn't find either)....the watermarks are usually destroying the pictures beauty and I don't know how solid a copyright statement is....I guess we can only be careful and hope for the courtesy of others...